Helping To Prevent Feed Spills And Mice In Your Chicken Run

Transcript

Welcome Back And Quick Catch-Up

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Are we ready for the colour? And welcome to the chicken every day. I'll podcast for you with the backyard chicken. Your host is Michael Bulgaria with every ballary of Zha Backyard. Here we have fun our sharing ideas and learning how to care for our sales and friends. Check out our videos at Zema. So without further ado, let's start today's show. All of that.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Hey guys, Gary was in my backyard chickens and the chickens everyday podcast here. And I know, I know, it's been a while since I posted and put something on here. And I'm sorry about that. But in my defense, I really don't have a defense, okay? I've been lazy and just kind of haven't been doing much. It's hot over here in Louisiana.

The Yellowstone Road Trip Highlights

SPEAKER_00 0:57

But the wife and I did just get back from a long trip from central Louisiana to Yellowstone National Park. It was an amazing trip for us to do. We drove the whole way in our small motor home. It was such fun, saw some gorgeous sights. Going through northern Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming, uh just breathtaking to see all that stuff. And if you've never been, I definitely recommend you take that trip. We went straight up there, uh, did some camping, had a lot of fun, saw all the animals got snowed on. That was something for a Louisiana boy. We did kind of an oval coming back, so we didn't come straight back. Ended up logging 3,601 miles on that motorhome. It was just wow. Never never have done something quite like that, never drove anything quite like that. But it was a ton of fun. Make sure that you get that on your list at some point. This country has some gorgeous places to go view and visit. But anyway, back to business.

Cindy’s Problem With Spilled Feed

SPEAKER_00 1:59

I got a letter, got an email from a lady named Miss Cindy. She says, My name is Cindy, and I really enjoy both listening to your podcast and watching the videos. I'm hoping that you can help with a problem I have with my six in flop. The girls are constantly spilling feed on the ground, and as a result, there are signs of mice and moldy feed on the ground inside the run. I feed a good quality crumble that the chickens really seem to like, but their messy eating habits leave a lot to be desired. Please, any advice is appreciated, Cindy. Well, Cindy, uh, you're not alone. We've all been down this road before, and I really think that I have a few things that I can help you out with on

Raise The Feeder To Stop Scooping

SPEAKER_00 2:42

that. Number one, uh, I'm going to say that the best way to get rid of having feet on the ground, you you want to have your feet are up to about the bottom of the neck height on the chicken. And uh the reason you want to do that is so they stretch just a little bit to reach for their feet, and they don't have that scooping motion quite as much to knock the feet around. Number two, I like to use the cup style feeders, and uh, I've got a coop works, it's it's right here. I've got a coop works feeder, and it's got those cup style feeders in it. I used to hang a bucket from the ceiling and I put those inside of it. It really forces the birds to put their neck inside there, makes it a lot easier and a lot cleaner, but that height is really, really important to help take away their natural tendency to just knock all the feed

Cup Feeders And Hanging Bucket Setup

SPEAKER_00 3:33

out. Okay? So you want to get them off the ground. Also, you don't want you want to get it to where that you don't have to worry about mice and rats getting up inside it. If you can suspend a five-gallon bucket from a bicycle or a swing set type of chain, that's how I started out doing with a lot of them, then you eliminate that pathway for a mouse to be on the ground and try to jump up and get in your feed. My Kooparx feeder's got, I think they they advertise three different types of mounts. I use the center pole mount for mine, and that really helps to discourage the ability of a mouse or a rat to be able to get up inside the feeder, and again, you want it up high enough that they do that stretch. Okay.

Switch From Crumbles To Pellets

SPEAKER_00 4:13

Number two, I would recommend changing from crumbles to pellets, and I'm going to get a ton of backlash over this. Oh my god, my birds will only eat crumbles, they will not eat pellets. Well, you know, they're chickens. They will eat pellets, okay? They're not going to stage a hunger strike until you give in. They're chickens. Chickens have a tendency to not like change, but they will adapt to change. Every chicken on my place has started off with crumbles until they can start laying. When they start laying, then I go to layer pellets. The reason I want to use the pellets is if a bird drops a pellet on the ground, it's easy to see. And they're more likely to get it picked up by them or by another bird that's somewhere around. So that helps keep the ground cleaner on top of everything else. Whenever you have a clean ground, you're not inviting worms, you're not inviting mole, you're not inviting mice, and all that kind of stuff. So, yeah, I definitely recommend going to a pellet feed on that. You do those things, it's probably going to go a long way to help you. Remember, you want to elevate your feeder to the point that they have to kind of stretch just a little bit to get to the feed. This helps eliminate that scooping motion that they do whenever they grab the feed, gets it off of the ground, so they're not going to knock it around as much when it's off of the ground. Now you're not going to have mice and other animals and vermin getting in there and creating problems that you have. So this is what I would recommend to do.

Product Link Tips And DIY Options

SPEAKER_00 5:42

Again, I use a coop works feeder. Uh, if you're watching this on the video, I will put a link to the coop works feeder on that. If you use this link, I think you'll get 10 or 12% off of it. And I get like 1% out of that, which is like four bucks, but I mean four bucks if you know something. So if you want to try it, give it a shot. Otherwise, do like I used to do. I I took five-gallon buckets, and you can buy those cup style feeders off of Amazon, or you can go to your farm store and get them, and you can make your own. Make sure you install them correctly. I've seen people that install them bass acquires, so to speak, and it doesn't do them any good. So make sure that you install them correctly. Hang those things from from the from the ceiling if you're able to, so that nothing can get up under it and climb up that thing and get in there and eat your feed. But that should help take care of your problem, Cindy, and that's for us and all the other guys out there that have some of these.

Email The Show And Wrap-Up

SPEAKER_00 6:35

Remember, if you have something that you want to talk about, all you got to do is email me at chickensplural, C-H-I-C-K-E-N-S, everyday at yahoo.com. If you have a flock of birds and you want to talk about them and you got a good gift for Gab, let's get together. Maybe we can get you on the show and we can do just that. In the meantime, I will try to be a little bit better about getting these videos out there. Thank you guys so much. See you soon. Bye bye.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

That's all we have time for today. I really hope you enjoyed listening to the podcast. Be sure to watch our videos. So on behalf of my couple, Gary, and me.